


Our Ignition

by helo572



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Beginnings, Drabble, Fifth Blight, Korcari Wilds, Party Camp, The Blight (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:33:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helo572/pseuds/helo572
Summary: On the first night, the Warden struggles to reconcile the family she lost and the world she is supposed to save.





	Our Ignition

**Author's Note:**

> Reworking some old OCs, don't mind me. Avery is my first developed Warden, human noble, with drastic development later on. You can read about her on my [tumblr OCs page](http://galaxydetectiveswife.tumblr.com/characters), or check out [her Pinterest board](https://au.pinterest.com/helo572/oc-avery-cousland-dragon-age/).

Morrigan stopped them in a small clearing, which the trees gently coddled from the space of the path. Beyond, the thicket of the Wilds hesitantly gave way to open plains, where the Imperial Highway beckoned Avery away from this damp, sweaty and darkspawn-ridden hell.

 

“Let us rest here, until the sun rises,” she said.

 

“Right. In the Wilds, surrounded by Darkspawn,” Alistair quipped, looking around at their modest clearing.

 

“T'is unlikely they will venture this far,” Morrigan replied, and then added, with a twinge of amusement dancing on the edge of her voice, “Alistair, retrieve some kindling, if you would. We will need a fire.”

 

Alistair, muttering something about dogs, waded into the thicket.

 

“Your friend is quite the jester,” Morrigan remarked, to Avery, who was unfastening the buckles on her bracers.

 

“He's not my friend,” Avery answered, and ripped the bracer off her wrist. She set it down beside her.

 

A smirk crept across Morrigan's face. “Your... associate, if you will, then.”

 

“Sure.” Avery removed the other bracer.

 

Alistair returned a few moments later, carrying an armful of small twigs and dried leaves. He dumped them at Morrigan's feet, where she looked down her nose at them, saying, “Our valiant hero returns.”

 

“I almost walked into a spider's web, I'll have you know,” he replied, dusting off his hands on the sides of his mail. “I could have died.”

 

Avery rubbed a hand across her face warily, and then laid back onto the grass. The sun had already set, and the stars twinkled across the blackness of the night sky, illuminating even the darkest patches across the horizon.

 

“You don't want a pillow?” Alistair's face appeared, riddled with shadows from the dim moonlight.

 

“I'll live,” Avery returned, and then rolled onto her side, her back to the twigs Morrigan was arranging.

 

A few moments later, Avery's shadow stretched across the grass, as a fire rose up towards the night sky, painting yellow, orange and red through the small clearing.

 

“I shall take watch,” Morrigan announced, her shadow returning to its full height. Flames danced in her hand, which dissipated when she closed her fist around them. “Warden, I shall wake you before I sleep.”

 

The fire was a welcome heat against her back, but eventually, she was staring back up at the sky again, wide awake, trying to trace her parent's faces in the stars.

 

They were gone, at Howe's hands. She would take vengeance, and it didn't matter whether it was with the steel of her blade, an arrow through his heart or her fingers around his throat.

 

And Duncan, who Loghain murdered with his treachery.

 

From across the small campfire, the last of the Grey Wardens shifted in his sleep, the chainlinks of his mail clinking together softly where he rested his head.

 

Avery had not asked for this.

 

The darkspawn blood rushing through her veins was a curse over simply just a burden; it made her limbs heavy, and her heart heavier. But it had been her parent's request, for their daughter to honour Thedas, to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of peace.

 

Duncan's idea, perhaps, but they had both agreed.

 

Avery shouldn't blame the late Warden for this, but it was so easy. Had he not come to the keep, then perhaps her parents would still be alive. Perhaps Loghain would have not signed King Cailan's death warrant. Perhaps the Blight would not threaten to engulf the world.

 

Avery sighed, staring at the stars.

 

No, it wasn't Duncan's fault.

 

Alistair's respect, love and admiration ran deep for that man, and Avery could not deny him that grief by painting him as a villain. Alistair's eyes, when he thought she and Morrigan weren't looking, coloured a picture using Loghain's blood as his paint.

 

After all, he was just the same as her; mourning the loss of everything he loved, taken by the Blight. Which is why they had to stop it, no matter the cost.

 

A raven cawed in a nearby tree, and Morrigan prodded Avery with a soft murmur, “T'is a few hours til' dawn yet. Wake us as the sun rises.”

 

The Warden started her watch.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! x


End file.
